Open letter

An open letter is a letter that is intended to be read by a wide audience, or a letter intended for an individual, but that is nonetheless widely distributed intentionally.

Open letters usually take the form of a letter addressed to an individual but provided to the public through newspapers and other media, such as a letter to the editor or blog. Especially common are critical open letters addressed to political leaders.

Letters patent are another form of open letter in which a legal document is both mailed to a person by the government, and publicized so that all are made aware of it. Open letters can also be addressed directly to a group rather than any individual.

Motivations for writing open letters

There are a number of reasons why an individual would choose the form of an open letter, including the following reasons:

To state the author's position on a particular issue,
As an attempt to start or end a wider dialogue around an issue,
As an attempt to focus broad attention on the letter's recipient, prompting them to some action
For humor value
Simply to make public a communication that must take place as a letter for reasons of formality

Examples of open letters

Many of the epistles of the Bible (such as the Pauline epistles) are open letters
J'accuse by Émile Zola over the Dreyfus Affair
Martin Luther King's Letter from Birmingham Jail
Bill Gates's Open Letter to Hobbyists attacking sharing and cooperation in software development, practices of which he did not approve
David Cross's Open Letter to Larry the Cable Guy [1]
The open letter given to Tarja Turunen by the other members of Nightwish, firing her from the band at the climax of End of an Era. She subsequently responded with her own open letter in reply.
Bobby Henderson's Open Letter to the Kansas School Board [2]
Google's Open Letter to the net on net neutrality [3]
Steve Jobs's Thoughts on Music concerning the past and future of DRM.
Siegfried Sassoon's A Soldier’s Declaration, questioning the judgment of Britain's leadership in WW1.

Resources

Open Web Letter - for composing and publishing open letters online
Open Letter - select letters written by the public are published online daily
OpenLetter - Mail your creative open letter to be posted for all.